The Western Conference has been a confusing mess all season long, but once the Phoenix Suns went all-in for Kevin Durant it became clear that there were two favorites to come out of the logjam. The Phoenix Suns with KD, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker, and the Denver Nuggets who claimed their perch atop the conference standings right from the start. Durant has missed much of his time as a Sun with injury, but now he’s back and we have a potential conference finals preview on our hands.
Let’s get right into the odds for the Nuggets and the Suns in Phoenix tonight.
Nuggets vs. Suns odds, spread and total
Nuggets vs. Suns prediction and pick
Durant returned to the floor on Wednesday to play his first home game in Phoenix and the Suns won 107-100 despite a pedestrian performance from Durant. He was gunning a little bit in his first in front of his new home fans and that was clear from the first possession of the game when he took a tough contested mid-range jumper that didn’t go down. He also had Jaden McDaniels, maybe the best wing defender in the NBA right now, hounding him for much of the night.
All of those things went wrong for their best player and they still beat a red hot Minnesota team by seven. That’s the margin for error that this team has now with their assembled talent. Tonight is going to be the night where they put it on full display. That includes Deandre Ayton on the defensive end.
This year, Phoenix has not done a good job against Jokic. In two games, he’s averaging 31.0 points, 16.5 rebounds, and 12.0 assists. However, Ayton is somebody who can matchup well athletically with Jokic and had success in their sweep of the Nuggets in 2021. I’m not saying he’ll shut down Jokic, far from it, but I do think the Suns have a better answer for Jokic than the Nuggets have for KD.
Not to mention that Jokic is questionable with a calf injury and if he can’t go that take a lot of luster away from this matchup, but makes backing Phoenix that much easier.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change